Near-dissipationless coherent excitations in biosystems

Abstract

We consider the question of long-range propagation of informational signals in biosystems. This is done for the case of a modeled biosystem of the type considered by H. Fröhlich and A. S. Davydov but under general nonequilibrium thermodynamic conditions. For that purpose we resort to the so-called informational statistical thermodynamics. It is shown that Fröhlich's effect may follow in this system. It consists in the emergence of a self-organized dissipative homogeneous and stationary structure (in Prigogine's sense), resembling a nonequilibrium Bose - Einstein condensation in the low-lying-in-frequency modes of polar vibrations. It follows once a critical level of pumping of metabolic energy is achieved. Furthermore, it is shown that signals in this system propagate in the form of Davydov solitons, which are strongly thermally damped in near equilibrium at physiological conditions. However, the situation drastically changes in nonequilibrium conditions, leading to Fröhlich's condensation, when the lifetime of a Davydov-like soliton is enormously enhanced, allowing for very long range propagation of signals. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.